Tom Hering’s FLY MAN VS THE ATOMIC TIME-BOMB!

Posted on January 14, 2016July 3, 2017 by Steve Iverson

I converted a 1974 Aurora “Comic Scenes” Superboy model to Fly Man, aka The Fly – a silver age, Archie Comics superhero. I actually completed the figure about a decade ago, but it just sat in a box on my shelf because I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I didn’t know what sort of scene I could make that would work with the figure’s unusual pose. The answer finally came to me when I recently looked through issue #31 of “Fly Man” (the same 1965 issue that introduced the Archie Comics superhero team, The Mighty Crusaders). In that issue, Fly Man’s nemesis, The Spider, drops an atomic bomb to destroy Fly Man. But the bomb’s explosion is time-delayed so that mysterious rays emanating from the bomb can cause Fly Man to suffer before he dies. (I can almost hear Fly Girl exclaim, “Holy kryptonite imitation, Fly Man!”) The scene I’ve created is somewhat inaccurate, as it shows Fly Man confronting the atomic time-bomb with more strength than he was able to muster in the story (which was none!). I also jazzed up the appearance of the bomb with some extra details.

The Fly Man conversion was mostly accomplished using Magic Sculpt epoxy putty. (Before it cures, Magic Sculpt can be shaped and smoothed by working its surface with tools, brushes, and water.) Superboy’s hair was carved away, and his cranium reconstructed with putty. The goggles were made by using tiny, curved half-circles of 0.10 sheet styrene for the sides, two loops of thin wire for the rims, and then blending it all together with putty. The edges of the new boots, gloves, and hood were created with various weights of polyester thread. After tacking the threads in place, they were made hard and solid by soaking them with super glue. Again, putty was used to complete these parts of the costume. The wings, a new belt and buckle, and the holster for the buzz gun were all made from sheet styrene. The buzz gun itself was made of scrap parts. When completed, the figure was hand brushed with custom mixed Model Master oil enamels. The black bands on the belt are striping tape, the black lines on the hood are thin strips cut from black decals, and the Fly Man logo on the buckle was hand painted, as was the outline of the goggles. Finally, the whole figure was clear coated with a triple application of Future floor polish, to give it a retro gloss finish in the style of models built and painted in the 1960s. (We used gloss paints on everything back then.)

The bomb was built from scratch using 0.20 and 0.30 sheet styrene, 1/8” sheet ABS, and parts from my junk box. (I don’t just save leftover kit parts, but all sorts of hard plastic parts that I scavenge from old household items.) All the bolt heads were cut from 1/8” hexagonal styrene rod, using an NWSL Chopper. The markings on the timer face are strips cut from red decals. The finish on the bomb was sprayed from rattle cans – four light coats of Testors Graphite Gray Metallic over Testors Gray Primer.

The base is 0.20 sheet styrene laminated to the sides of a 7.0 x 3.5 x 1.75 basswood block. To mount the bomb in epoxy adhesive, a 7/8” wide by 1” deep hole was made with a drill and spade bit. The ground cover was built up with white school glue, kitty litter, and diorama landscaping products (black earth and green grass). Then the groundwork was sealed with multiple, heavy applications of Testors GlossCote.

The nameplate was created in CorelDRAW, printed on 100# gloss cover stock, glued with spray adhesive to a plaque made of 1/8” sheet ABS, and clear coated with Testors GlossCote. I copied the logotype that appears on “Fly Man” #31’s cover.